Ganga Gram Yojana launched

As a major initiative towards fast track implementation of Namami Gange Programme the first company of Ganga Task force Battalion was deployed at Garhmukteshwar.

 Garhmukteshwar is a town and a municipal board in Hapur district in the state of Uttar Pradesh.

Three such companies will be deployed soon at Kanpur, Varanasi and Allahabad.

The Jawans of the Ganga Task force will be deployed on the banks of the river Ganga to ensure that industry and civilians do not pollute the river.

Sushri Bharti (Union Minister of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation) also launched Ganga Gram Yojana at Village Puth in Hapur district of U.P. 1600 villages situated along the banks of river Ganga will be developed under this scheme.

In the first phase of the progamme 200 villages have been selected. In these villages open drains falling into river Ganga will be diverted and alternative arrangements for sewage treatment will be made.

The villages will have toilets in every house hold. It is proposed to incur and expenditure of Rs. One crore on every village.

These villages will be developed under the Sichewal model. It may be noted that Sichewal is situated in Punjab, where cooperation of the villagers has been solicited for the water management and waste disposal in a meticulous way.

What is Namami gange Programme?

Namami Gange Project or Namami Ganga Yojana  is an ambitious Union Government Project  which integrates the efforts to clean and protect the Ganga river in a comprehensive manner. It its maiden budget, the governnment announced Rs. 2037 Crore towards this mission. The project is officially known as Integrated Ganga Conservation Mission project or ‘Namami Ganga Yojana’.

This project aims at Ganga Rejuvenation by combining the existing ongoing efforts and planning under it to create a concrete action plan for future.

Story of the polluted Ganga:

The Ganga is the largest river in India with an extraordinary religious importance for Hindus.

Situated along its banks are some of the world’s oldest inhabited cities like Varanasi and Patna.

It provides water to about 40% of India’s population across 11 states, serving an estimated population of 500 million people or more, which is larger than any other river in the world.

A number of initiatives have been undertaken to clean the river but failed to deliver desired results.

 After getting elected, India’s Prime minister Narendra Modi affirmed to work for cleaning the river and controlling Pollution.

Subsequently, Namami Ganga project was announced by the Government in July 2014 budget.

Causes of the pollution:

The main causes are the increase in the population density, the enhanced per capita pollutants discharged to the river and the meagre dry season water flows in the river due to upstream uses.

• Human waste

• Industrial waste

• Religious events

Other causes :

• The Haridwar dam has led to decay of the Ganga by greatly diminishing the flow of the river.

• The Farakka Barrage  caused an increase of salinity in the downstream Ganga river, having a damaging effect on the ground water and soil along the river.

• Most of the water available at the upstream of the Kanpur barrage is used during dry season for the cities drinking water needs.

•  Downstream of Kanpur barrage, adequate water is not available from the barrage to dilute the polluted water reaching the main river during the dry seasons of year.

 

How much Polluted?

A 2006 measurement of pollution in the Ganga revealed that river water monitoring over the previous 12 years had demonstrated fecal coliform counts up to 100,000,000 MPN (most probable number) per 100 ml and biological oxygen demand levels averaging over 40 mg/l in the most polluted part of the river in Varanasi.

The overall rate of water-borne/enteric disease incidence, including acute gastrointestinal disease, etc. and was estimated to be about 66%.

Chromium level now stands at more than 70 times the recommended maximum level.

A study conducted by the National Cancer Registry Program (NCRP) under the Indian Council of Medical Research in 2012, suggested that “those living along its banks in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Bengal are more prone to cancer than anywhere else in the country”